Bhubaneswar, June 24: Employees at Nalco’s Damanjodi refinery in Koraput district went on a 24-hour strike today to protest against the 10 per cent divestment.

The strike, spearheaded by 18 employees’ unions, comes a day after the protests at the state-run aluminium major’s smelter and captive power plant facility at Angul.

Production at the refinery was paralysed as only 125 of its 2,700 workers reported for work. “There has been no production but the refinery has been kept in safe shutdown mode,” said G.K. Behera, general manager (operations and maintenance). The plant produces about 4,000 tonnes of alumina every day.

Behera said the mining operation was also adversely affected with employees of the unit joining the strike since morning.

Today’s strike started at 6 am. Over 1,000 employees held a protest meet and blocked two entrances to the refinery. “The Centre’s unilateral decision to disinvest is a clear betrayal,” said the president of Nalco Land Displaced Employees’ Union, Kruitbas Raju.